Exoticism, orientalism and national identity in musical theatre. International musicological conference on the centenary of the death of Karl Goldmark

Institute of Musicology (Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences)

Karl Goldmark was a key figure of the musical culture of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. He was born in a Hungarian city as a son of a Jewish chazzan, but his activity concentrated mostly to Vienna. He considered himself Hungarian, but all of his operas were composed in German and, except Götz von Berlichingen, premiered in Vienna. Thus, his life and oeuvre represents not only the problematic questions of citizenship, religion and national identity in Central Europe at the turn of the century, but also their impact on a variety of musical genres (operas, symphonic works, chamber music, choral music, works for piano and songs).

On the centenary of Goldmark’s death, the Archives and Research Group for 20th and 21st Century Hungarian Music (http://zti.hu/mza/index_en.htm) launches an international conference which will discuss not only the life and oeuvre of Goldmark, but also several topics in connection to him. As an initiative, this conference intends to discuss these topics in international context and for the period of 1867 to present (also contemporary music), furthermore, ‘musical theatre’ will not be restricted to opera but papers concerning further genres of musical theatre (operetta, ballet, incidental music, musical, dance, show, revue, cabaret etc.) are also invited.

Abstracts of 300 words for 20-minute individual papers are invited to be sent in English or in German. Themes that papers may address include, but are not limited to:

All proposals should be submitted by email no later than 30 April 2015 to magyar.zenei.archivum@btk.mta.hu With your proposal please include your CV, contact details and, if applicable, your affiliation. The committee will make its final decision on the abstracts by the end of May 2015, and contributors will be informed immediately thereafter. Further information about the programme, registration, travel and accommodation will be announced after that date.

For any additional information, please contact both of the organizers of the conference: